1. Field of Invention
The subject invention relates to attachment washer assembly for aligning and securing an attachment bracket of a seat assembly to a floor panel of a vehicle.
2. Background of Invention
A vehicle seat is generally pre-assembly and installed into a vehicle on an assembly line. The vehicle seat comprises a seat track assembly on which a seat cushion is mounted. A seat back is hingedly mounted to the seat cushion. The seat track assembly comprises a riser assembly having four downwardly extending legs and a slide track. An example of such seat track assemblies are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,000. The distal end of each of the legs has a pre-formed aperture. These apertures align with pre-formed apertures on the floor pan for receiving fasteners during the assembly process.
The apertures on the seat track and the floor pan are designed to align to receive the fasteners therethrough. An accepted tolerance is included in the design. However, in practise, the tolerances of components for the seat track often exceed the tolerance limits as the manufacturing processes compound the deviations. As a result, the pre-formed apertures often do not align perfectly as designed. Despite the misalignment, these seat are still installed into a vehicle. Typically, the first two legs are aligned and then fastened to the floor pan. The remaining two legs are then forcefully aligned and fastened. The result is that the slide track may be slightly twisted, thus increasing sliding track effort as well as binding conditions and potential buzz, squeak and rattle (BSR).
It is possible to lower the tolerance of each pre-formed attachment aperture. However, increases in the tolerances reduces the contact surface between the components with the resulting reduction in clamping forces.
It is also possible to increase the precision of the manufacturing processes to ensure that the design tolerances are achieved. However, increased precision can only be achieved by increased manufacturing costs.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an assembly for improving the alignment between the apertures in the seat assembly and the apertures in the vehicle for assembly.
The subject invention relates to an attachment washer assembly for aligning an attachment bracket with an aperture in a support structure. The attachment bracket has a preformed aperture therethrough having a first diameter. The attachment washer comprises a first member having a cylindrical flange and a tubular ring extending from the flange with the tubular ring forming an axial bore through the first member. A second member has a cylindrical flange and a tubular ring extending from the flange with the tubular ring forming an axial bore through the second member. The ring of the first member is inserted and frictionally fitted within the ring of the second member for retaining the attachment washer assembly within the preformed aperture with the flanges of the first and second members slidingly engaging opposite sides of the bracket. The ring of the second member has an outer diameter which is less than the first diameter of the preformed aperture and the flanges have an outer diameter greater than the first diameter such that the attachment washer assembly is moveable within the preformed aperture for alignment with the aperture in the support structure.